Insight and humour into the madness of my life and the world around it.

“GET YOUR CULTURE OOT”

It’s that magic time of the year again, the city bustles, the streets brim with magic and art. The tourists gather in crowds of hundreds on the streets frozen and transfixed as some street performer does their best to impress, horrify and amaze the crowd. That’s right, It’s the Edinburgh Fringe 2012!

My all time favourite part of the year from August to September the city becomes a brimming cultural bastion. The amount of unique acts that pour into the city to astound and amaze is astonishing, Every step you take in the city centre is someone pushing one star studded show after another, The breadth and depth of art, comedy, music, spoken word or a mash up of any of these means you’ll never ever ever see it all, but that’s what makes it great. You’ll make friends with randoms, have the strangest conversations while waiting in queues and don’t be surprised if you bump into someone you adore while having a pint that’s a bit of a celebrity in their respective field.

I have grown up in Edinburgh and nowadays the Fringe is a really family affair with lots of the shows family friendly etc. But I never really had much to do with it as a kid or teenager. I do have many many fond memories over the years of wandering the High street just soaking up the atmosphere though. It truly is a wonderful experience just to see all the tit bits of free shows that are going on. In true Fringe spirit it’s all about sharing and celebrating culture, diversity and the passion for the Arts we pride ourselves in for both the performers and the audiences.

The difference with the Fringe and the thing I personally love it is the intimacy of it all, You always feel very close to the acts and pretty much everyone from the acts in the smallest of venues to the power house stars like Daniel Sloss and Micheal Mcintyre wander around the streets of Edinburgh and are generally always very pleasant and approachable, there is a real communal spirit and the small cosy nature of Edinburgh plays a part in that. I’m always bumping into return visitors to the Fringe ever year who say they have never felt so welcome in a city before. Last night one of the techies I was talking to outside a gig said I’m very lucky to live in one of the best cities in the world. I beamed with pride when she said this, We truly do have this phenomenal opportunity with the Fringe and I encourage you all to take advantage of it. Here are some tips to getting the most out of this years Fringe!

My number one Tip is Get out there and just look and listen! Speak to tech’s! They aren’t paid to promote shows but they spend a hell of a lot of time working on a lot of them so they know what they are talking about so any recommendation from them is worthwhile!

The big acts are great but you’ll be amazed how many of those big acts were obscure acts on the Fringe 5 years ago, Its worth checking out some of the smaller acts (especially if someone has recommended them) because It’ll probably relatively cheap and great obscure acts never stay obscure for long!Finally

Don’t be afraid to try something a bit out there, the fringe is full of weird, quirky and plain old batshit crazy! Sometimes you need that and if nothing else the uber nonsense shows is something you can laugh at!

Now I plan this year to really bust a gut in between work and all my responsibilities to see as much as I can! Some will be free some will cost My plan Is to write up some reviews on the shows I see plus the 5W’s if anyone wants to check them out too! I plan to post up A review of some of the preview shows I saw last night plus a “Bucket list” of Things I want to see And I will just update the list as the month goes on. So keep checking back if any of them appear on your list too, Heck feel free to comment and let me know what you think!